Hazelwood, Warner and Finch pummel Sri Lanka to draw first blood

By Shehan Daniel at the R. Premadasa Stadium  

Unbeaten half-centuries from David Warner and Aaron Finch underscored Australia’s dominant victory over Sri Lanka on Tuesday, after Josh Hazelwood triggered a sensational batting collapse from the hosts earlier in the evening. 

The result was only the second instance a team had successfully chased a target without losing a wicket at the R Premadasa Stadium, and was the biggest victory by balls remaining (36) at this venue, eclipsing the previous best, achieved by South Africa last year, by a single delivery. 

It was quickly clear that the hosts’ bowling attack, which captain Dasun Shanaka hailed as world-class in the run-up to the series, would not be able to stop the Australians,who raced to 59 runs in the Powerplay – 19 of those runs coming off Wanindu Hasaranga’s first over. 
Warner reached his half-century in 33 balls, the 22nd of his career,with Finch matching his efforts needing only four deliveries more to bring up his 17th T20I fifty. 

The nature in which Sri Lanka’s innings panned out could not be emphasized more than in that Australia found themselves in an almost identical situation when they brought up their 100 runs in the 12th over – Sri Lanka having had the same amount of runs at the stage of their innings albeit having lost just one wicket. 

From there, and after Sri Lanka lost a second wicket of Pathum Nissanka, it took one Hazlewood over for the Sri Lankan innings to unravel, the home team losing eight wickets for 26 runs in the space of 39 balls, slumping from 102 for 2 to 128 all out. 

The right-arm fast bowler had already given very little away with his testing Test match lines and lengths -- his first two overs during Sri Lanka’s Power play going for just seven runs– and on his return for a third over immediately got the better of Kusal Mendis, who swiped across and offered a top edge to Ashton Agar at cover. 

Bhanuka Rajapaksa, playing his first international match since the T20 World Cup last year, was raucously welcomed to the crease by the almost sellout crowd, but those cheers were soon replaced by shocked silence when he lazily hung out his bat to offer an easy catch to Matthew Wade three balls later. 

Sri Lanka had lost half their side by the end of the over, when Shanaka was trapped leg before wicket, his attempt at a review confirming that the on-field decision that adjudged him out was indeed correct – Hazelwood accounting for three wickets at the cost of just one run. 

It was left to Charith Asalanka to take Sri Lanka to a respectable total, but he could not add to the three boundaries and six he scored earlier in the innings, run out for 38 attempting an unnecessary single at the behest of Wanindu Hasaranga. 

Hasaranga was the only other batsman, outside of the openers and Asalanka, to score in double digits, with the rest of the batsmen either scoring 1 or 0. 

The collapse undid the good work of Nissanka and Danushka Gunathilaka through the first 12 overs, with Nissanka in particular finding the boundary just when the Aussie had strung together tight overs. 

Ultimately it was a shot of aggression that cost Nissanka, attempting to slog sweep a slower ball yorker from Mitchell Starc, a full over before Hazelwood instigated Sri Lanka’s batting collapse. 

In contrast, Australia needed just 15 deliveries to score the last 29 runs for victory, Finch surging his team past the target and a 1-0 series lead with his fourth six.